Dwayne Johnson got emotional as his film The Smashing Machine received a 15-minute standing ovation during its world premiere Monday at the Venice Film Festival.
In video shared on social media, Johnson can be seen wiping away tears as the crowd applauded his dramatic turn as UFC fighter Mark Kerr.
It was the longest round of applause for any film screened at the festival so far, according to Variety.
“I have for a long time wanted this,” Johnson said before the premiere.
“The transformation part was something I was really hungry to do. I’ve been very fortunate to have the career that I’ve had and make the films that I have, but there was just this voice inside of me, this little voice, like, what if I can do more.”
The 53-year-old actor, best known for big budget action movies and comedies, is already sparking Oscar buzz for his transformation in the film from Benny Safdie.
The festival has launched several recent best actor Oscar winners, from Brendan Fraser in The Whale, to Adrien Brody in The Brutalist.
Like both of those films, The Smashing Machine is being released by A24.
“The box office in our business is very loud,” Johnson said.
“And it can push you into a category and into a corner: This is your lane, this is what you do, this what people want you to be in and this is what Hollywood wants you to be. And I understood that. And I made those movies, and I like them and they were fun. And some were really good and did well, and some not so good.”
But he said he felt like he had more to give — not to prove something to Hollywood, but to himself.
The push to take on a new challenge came in part from his co-star and friend Emily Blunt, who he worked with in Jungle Cruise and who encouraged him to draw on everything he’d gone through in life and put it into his work.
“When you’ve been pigeonholed into something it’s hard to know, wait, can I do that?” he said. “Sometimes it takes people you know and love, like Emily and Benny, to say you can.”
Johnson was joined in Venice not only by Safdie and Blunt, but also the man he’s portraying in the film.
Kerr is a two-time UFC heavyweight tournament winner and MMA fighter who retired in 2009. Known as “The Smashing Machine,” Kerr also struggled with addiction to painkillers and opioids, overdosing twice.
WATCH | The trailer for The Smashing Machine:
Before Johnson was best known as the star of franchises like Jumanji and the Fast & Furious series, as well as being a producer and business owner, he made his name in wrestling.
A third-generation wrestler — his late father was Nova Scotia-born Rocky Johnson — he won eight WWE championships.
“I loved wrestling and I had such a great time, but it’s very bombastic,” Johnson said.
He remembered meeting Kerr in the late 1990s and said how much he looked up to him.
This film, he said, feels like a full circle moment.
The Smashing Machine takes place between the years 1997 and 2000 — a tumultuous time in both Kerr’s professional and personal life, including his volatile relationship with then-girlfriend Dawn Staples, played by Blunt.
Johnson and co-star Emily Blunt pose for photographers at the Venice Film Festival on Monday. (Scott A Garfitt/Invision/The Associated Press)
The Venice Film Festival’s artistic director Alberto Barbera said last week he wouldn’t be surprised to see Johnson, who he called “absolutely amazing” in the film, and Blunt among the Oscar nominees next year.
The film is playing in the main competition, with titles like Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein; Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia; The Voice of Hind Rajab, about the 2024 killing of a Palestinian girl in Gaza; Italian drama La Grazia and the South Korean dark comedy No Other Choice also vying for the top prizes, including acting and directing awards.
Winners will be announced on Sept. 6.
The Smashing Machine will also screen at the Toronto International Film Festival, opening this week, and will debut in North American theatres on Oct. 3.